Three Steps to Recovery after a Failure
Praise God because God is a God of restoration.
God restores King Nebuchadnezzar eventually, after some time, we don't really know for sure how long. It says seven periods. We don't really know what that means. But God shows mercy and he restores King Nebuchadnezzar to his place. But in this process, this recovery process, I'm going to give you three things that he did that we can do if and when we fail.
He looks up, he wakes up, and he speaks up. So, three steps to recovery.
1. Look up to God
When we realize, oh man, I messed up, I'm a failure, I did something wrong here, the first thing we do, look up to God.
Nebuchadnezzar says in Daniel 4:34, “But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned to me. …”
Now, this part of the scriptures in the Old Testament is written in Aramaic. In the original Aramaic, this phrase literally means he lifted his eyes to heaven. He looked to heaven. He looked to where God is. And maybe some of us this morning, we need to do just that. Look to heaven. Some of you are insane right now. Your sanity is. You're crazy because, you know, you just. You've let your pride and ego get the best of you and you don't know what to do. Here it is. Look up to heaven. Maybe you're headed in the wrong direction. You're looking to the wrong things and the wrong people to solve your problems. There's only one direction and one person who can solve your problems, really, and that's God. He will restore your sanity. We need to get our eyes on heaven and we need to get our eyes refocused on God.
2. Wake up to God's greatness and start worshiping
Nebuchadnezzar says in verse 34, “…Then I praised the Most High and honored and glorified him who lives forever: …”
Don't you think we need to honor God in our lives? Don't you think we need to glorify God in our lives for what he's done for us? Now, if you're like this, maybe you used to read your Bible every day. I used to pray every day. I used to pray all the time. I used to go to church every Sunday. I used to. And you fill in the blank with whatever spiritual act you used to do. Maybe it's time to start doing those things again. Because here's the deal. Is there anything more important in your life than worshiping God, focusing your attention on God and hearing from him on a regular basis? Is there anything more important than that? Because if there is, tell me. Otherwise, I'm just wasting my time up here, right? Is there anything more important than that? Getting in touch with God every single day in His Word, in the Bible, and praying every day. It is so important.
Getting to worship on Sunday mornings every Sunday is so important. And I'm going to tell you this. Every Sunday I'm going to be in church. Why? Because I'm so afraid if I don't show up to church on Sunday morning, I'm going to miss something that God was going to say into my life. He was going to speak into my life and he was going to change the direction of my life just like that, because I was here. And if I don't come here, it's not going to happen. I might miss it.
We get better when we replace pride with praise.
We get better when we replace pride with praise. And so maybe some of us need to take that next step.
Verse 37 says, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and glorify the King of the heavens, because all his works are true and his ways are just. …”
You see the repentance, it was all about him at the beginning, wasn't it? It's all about me. Look what I've done. Look at the kingdom I've built by my power. No. Now it's like, no, this is all about God. Nebuchadnezzar looks up to God and he worships him.
3. Speak up and share how God saved me
Back in the first two verses of Daniel chapter 4, this is what Nebuchadnezzar does. He says, “ … To those of every people, nation, and language, who live on the whole earth: May your prosperity increase. I am pleased to tell you about the miracles and wonders the Most High God has done for me.”
He goes from being the most important man on earth to drooling in the desert to being restored by God to telling the whole world about it in a letter. Let me ask you this: Has God done anything for you? Has God saved you from anything? Has God shown you his grace? Has God changed you in any way?
Have you told anyone about it? I’m not saying you have to tell the whole world like King Nebuchadnezzar did. Start with just one person. Then tell a second, then a third, and then keep going. The more people you tell, the easier it’ll become.
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.